2017 Florida Masters: Sunday
There would be no wind on Sunday and after postponing onshore for a little over an hour the days racing was called off and results were final.
Category: No Quarter Sailing
No Quarter Sailboat Racing
2017 Florida Masters: Saturday
It was a light air day at the Florida Masters with temperatures in the mid 70’s and wind out of the south at 5-10. I did a quick video of the grounds while people were rigging seen here. I also admired some of the other travel setups including some enclosed trailers and another sprinter van set up as an RV with the boat riding on the (low) roof.
46 standards and 19 radial launched and sailed south to the inlet and out onto the ocean. There were some large swells at time and when you were at the bottom – there were times you couldn’t see the tops of the sailboats at bottom of the other side of the swell. The lumpy conditions, wind swinging 50 degrees and the current pushing us down the course made for some challenging racing.
In the first race I had an ok start down by the boat and made my way out to the right side of the course. I hadn’t quite figured out how to make the boat go in the lumps and found myself midfleet at the top mark. At the bottom mark we had a course change to shorten the course and this time I banged the left side of the course mostly to get in clear air. It worked out great and I was 7th at the top mark and I held that to the finish.
In the second race I started mid-line and this time worked my way all the way out to the left. I caught up to the Radials who started 7 minutes ahead of us and rounded 5th or 6th. Downwind I played the right side of the course and was 2nd around the right gate and again decided to go out to the left. With the wind down a little bit and maybe a little more current further from shore on the left – it didn’t pay for me and I dropped 10 spots to the folks who played the right more and finished 12 at the shortened upwind finish.
In the 3rd race I had an atrocious start and had nothing but bad air anywhere I looked upwind. I think I was ahead of only a few boats at the top mark. Downwind I played the right side of the course, caught some puffs and passed quite a few boats. Upwind I played the middle right and passed another 10+ boats. On the final downwind I passed another boat to finish 20th.
I was happy with my sailing that I was having good speed especially upwind. I just need to get a little more consistent and work on starting to start out in a good position. After 3 races I’m in 12th overall and 2nd Apprentice.
A couple general observations – I was sailing with the Mk2 sail and in the light and lumpy conditions I found the looser outhaul gave me better pointing and power through the waves upwind. Today also highlighted for me how important it was to have clear lanes of wind. As big as the swells were – they blocked the wind – so it seemed as if only the top of the sail was always in the wind and so it made an even bigger difference without a clear lane of wind.
Following racing I did a quick run down the river front and cleaned up for a nice dinner at the club.
2017 Florida Masters: Friday
I’ve arrived in West Palm Beach for my first Laser Masters Regatta. I finally qualify (35 years old) and I am looking forward to the next 2 days of sailing at Palm Beach Sailing Club followed by a day off and another 2 days of sailing the Masters Midweek Madness regatta at Sarasota Sailing Squadron.
It took about 13 1/2 hours of driving to get here from Richmond having left late yesterday afternoon and spent the night in Manning SC. Palm Beach Sailing Club is located on the sound just a short sail from an inlet and the racing area will be out on the bay. They have beach and ramp launching with a small dock and a clubhouse with a big pavillion. I met up with some familiar NJ and MD friends and also ran into some far-flung sailors I’ve met at various regattas.
Racing starts tomorrow with temperatures in the high 70s and winds 10-14 out of the east. Can’t wait!
2016 FBYC Offshore Fall Series #2
Today started out as a pretty light-air day and the wind quickly built for the 2nd race of the FBYC Offshore Fall Series #2. We sailed with just 3 of us – Andrew, Nathan and myself and we sailed a good first race, picking the correct side and finishing 1st in the 4-boat fleet.
As the 2nd race started the wind piped up closer to 20 and two of the teams dropped out and we knew at that point we just needed to finish the race to win the day. Unfortunately for us we were late at the start having been doing some rig tuning and not being closer enough to the line. Hotty Toddy had a 10-boat lead at the start, but by the time we got a mile upwind we had caught up and were neck and neck. We pulled away for another 1st.
2016 FBYC Offshore Fall Series #1
Back racing the J/70 after nearly 2 months we had nice wind and clear skies for the FBYC Offshore Fall Series 1. We had out Louise, Andrew and Patrick and it was Patrick’s first time on the J/70. In the starting sequence Louise had a minor family emergency so we transferred her to the Mr. Roberts and had to sail 3 up. Having practiced 4-up and with no time until the start, we winged it and did our best with only 3 of us.
We weren’t able to quite keep up with E.L.E. but we did well nonetheless and were able to finish 2nd. In between races Louise was back and joined us for the 2nd race of the day. In this race all 4 J/70 were a lot closer and we got behind early on the wrong side of the course upwind. We came back downwind, but weren’t able to get back ahead of Spice to finish 3rd. All in all a fun day back in the boat. Thanks Louise, Andrew and Patrick for sailing!
2016 FBYC 77th Annual One Design Regatta
Nearly a year in the making this would mark the first time I was the event chairman for the 77th Annual One Design Regatta. With that role came a lot of additional responsibilities and unlike the single-class regattas for Lasers that I have often chaired – this one involved organizing for many different classes. In the end I think we did the best we could to balance the wishes of the sailors vs the sailing conditions we had and the volunteers and resources we had available.
Being the event chairman I was focused on making sure the event ran smoothly and so I only made it out for two races. I had a good first race and ended up in a bad spot in the 2nd race that I couldn’t get out of at a mark rounding and ended up fouling a boat and had to retire from the race.
2016 FBYC Laser Summer Regatta
No wind in the morning so we postponed onshore for 2 hours and then went out to catch the sea breeze. The Braun family ran 5 races for us and we had 8 standard rigs and 4 radials out racing. Generally I had good speed all around the course, but wasn’t as clean in transitions as I could have been. Charlie Brewer sailed a superb day and wasn’t able to be caught taking 5 bullets. I settled for 2nd scrambling to stay ahead of Rob W and Csilla Gal. Big thanks to Matt Braun and Doug Bendura for heading up the RC.
2016 Leukemia Cup Regatta
For the 2nd year in a row I’ve sail the J/70 in the Southern Chesapeake Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta. We had mostly sunny skies and winds in the 8-12 range with 7 J/70s on the course. Early in the day we really had a groove going and were able to make good boat speed putting up 2-2 in the first two races. A 4th in the 3rd race put us in 2nd overall just one point out of first going into day 2.
Sunday started out with a close race where we finished 3rd. The wind got lighter and we struggled putting up a 6th to hang onto 3rd overall. Thanks Carrie, Brad & Louis for a great weekend of sailing!
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2016 FBYC J/70 Friday Night Series – July 1
Tonight was the first night of sailing the J/70 Friday nights. My Dad came down earlier in the day and we were able to go for a sail in between some storms.
2016 Laser District 10 Championship
Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club was host for the 2016 Laser District 10 Championship in mid-June. Winds were light for the first 5 races on Saturday and I finished 13-11-5-11-9 to be 10th after the first day. That evening had dinner with a few of the District 10 sailors and caught a beautiful sunset at Brant Beach Yacht Club.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BG0P2TyK-6R/
On Sunday it took 2 hours of postponement for the wind to fill and then we sailed 2 more races in 10-14 knots. I finished 9-10 and stayed in 10th overall.
